The Department of Biological Sciences at Johns Hopkins can measure success in many ways, one of which is our impressive history of awards. The students, graduates, postdocs, and faculty within our department have garnered recognition from many prestigious sources.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Awards to Current Students

2017

2016

Susan Liao: Sigma Xi Scientific Research Award (Ryuya Fukunaga lab)For the second time, theSigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research GIARlogo (GIAR) program has provided Susan with $500 to be used toward research supplies to support her specific research project. By encouraging close working relationships between students and mentors, the program promotes scientific excellence and achievement through hands-on learning.

Kyle Cavagnini: 2015-2016 Drescher Endowment Fund for Graduate Medical Research Award recipient (Michael Wolfgang lab). Established by William and Mary Drescher this award reflects the donors' intent to support training for gifted young scientists at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

2014

Susan Liao: Sigma Xi Scientific Research Award (Ryuya Fukunaga lab)The Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research GIARlogo (GIAR) program has provided undergraduate and graduate students with valuable educational experiences since 1922. By encouraging close working relationships between students and mentors, the program promotes scientific excellence and achievement through hands-on learning. The program awards grants of up to $1,000 to students from all areas of the sciences and engineering. Students use the funding to pay for travel expenses to and from a research site, or for purchase of non-standard laboratory equipment necessary to complete a specific research project.

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Awards to Graduates

2016

2013

de Mauri Mackie: National Research Service Award, Predoctoral Fellowship (Joel Pomerantz lab)The overall goal of the NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) program is to help ensure that a diverse pool of highly trained scientists is available in appropriate scientific disciplines to address the Nation's biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research needs.

Elizabeth Petro: WCC/Eli Lilly Travel Award from the ACS (Dan Raben lab)The ACS Women Chemists Committee (WCC) and Eli Lilly and Company sponsor a program to provide funding for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral female chemists to travel to meetings to present the results of their research. Through this program, WCC and Eli Lilly and Company continue to increase the participation of women in the chemical sciences. Awards are made on the basis of scientific merit and financial need.

Claudia Ruiz: Robert Goodman Neuroscience Award (Mollie Meffert lab)

Joshua Schwartz: Amgen Research Scholar Travel Award (Mollie Meffert lab)First offered in spring 2011, the Amgen Scholars U.S. Alumni Travel Award​s are intended to encourage professional networking opportunities for program alumni focused on scientific careers. The award provides partial support of up to $1,500 for national or international conference expenses.

Wei Shen: Paul Ehrlich Award, YID (Craig Montell lab) The Paul Ehrlich Awards were established to honor Dr. Paul Ehrlich with funding originally granted by Dr. Emanuel Libman. The awards, which recognize student research contributions, are presented each year at Young Investigators’ Day.

Yali Zhang: David I. Macht Award, YID (Craig Montell lab) The David Israel Macht Research Award was established in 1983 by the family of Dr. Macht to commemorate the centenary of his birth. Dr. Macht was a member of the faculty of the departments of Pharmacology and Medicine in the early part of this century and was a pioneer investigator in the field of opiate alkaloids. The award is intended to recognize excellence in investigation by a student in the School of Medicine.​

2010

2009

Recent Awards to Principal Investigators

2017

Gerald W. Hart, Ph.D., recipient of the 2018 Herbert Tabor Research Award.The Herbert Tabor Research Award has been established by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology to recognize the many contributions of Dr. Herbert Tabor to the Journal of Biological Chemistry and the Society. The award is given for excellence in biological chemistry and molecular biology and the contributions to the community of scientists. ASBMB seeks to be the first to recognize outstanding contributions.

Gerald W. Hart, Ph.D., named

president-elect of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB​), a prestigious organization with more than 12,000 members. The mission of this society is to advance biochemistry and molecular biology to understand the molecular nature life processes. The Society promotes scientific and educational journals, organizes an annual meeting, advocates for fundamental discovery research funding, supports science education at all educational levels, and promotes diversity in the scientific workforce.

Gerald W. Hart, Ph.D., named Inaugural Paul and Christine Englund Professor. The professorship, named for an accomplished Johns Hopkins researcher and his wife, an endocrinologist, is the first granted to the Department of Biological Chemistry. It recognizes Hart for his groundbreaking discovery on the crosstalk between O-GlcNAc and phosphorylation, which regulates transcription and signaling, and underlies the etiology of diabetes, neurodegenerative disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

2013

Michael Caterina: Donlin M. Long Pain Service Award from the Blaustein Pain Research Program

Michael Caterina: Named inaugural Director of the Neurosurgery Pain Research Institute at Johns Hopkins